The number of undernourished people in sub-Saharan Africa has increased mainly due to the impact of conflict and climate change with the situation pointing to the urgent need to build affected communities' resilience and to find peaceful solutions that strengthen food security, FAO said. The prevalence of chronic undernourishment appears to have risen from 20.8 to 22.7 percent between 2015 and 2016, according to FAO's Africa Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition report (2017). The number of undernourished people rose from 200 to 224 million, accounting for 25 percent of the 815 million people undernourished in the world in 2016, said Bukar Tijani, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa. Major factors have caused this surge in hunger: the proportion of the population that has experienced severe food insecurity because of their inability to access food has risen in the region; as well, adverse climatic conditions and conflict, often occurring concurrently, are key factors driving the recent increase in food insecurity in the region, Tijani explained.